News and Events

UK tourists will pay less for goods in almost half of popular holiday destinations this year despite the volatility of the pound, new research suggests. The Algarve is placed as the third cheapest destination for British travellers.

The number of homes being purchased by non-residents has once again risen, the Office for National Statistics (INE) Latest figures show that almost one in 12 properties sold last year were bought by non-residents, who were responsible for 12 percent of the total spend. Foreign buyers also spent an average of 160,000 euros on each real estate transaction, while local buyers averaged just over 107,000 euros. Real estate transactions involving non-residents increased by just under 20 percent in number, and were up almost 23 percent in value....

The number of foreigners residing in Portugal under the Non-Habitual Residency (NHR) scheme has almost doubled over the past 18 months. More than 23,000 foreign nationals currently benefit from Non-Habitual Residency, which is up 83 percent on January last year.

Whatever the tax authorities of Sweden or Finland feel, Portugal has no intention whatsoever in doing away with its “best kept tax secret”: the Non-Habitual Residents Regime. The same goes for Golden Visas.

The two are very important for the Portuguese economy, foreign affairs minister Augusto Santos Silva has stressed in a radio interview with Antena 1, and have brought with them value in both investment and people.

In fact, Portugal is not only going to maintain its fiscal attractions, it plans to develop them, he said, in much the same way as Ireland, Holland, Luxembourg and Spain.

Changes that means pensions can be drawn tax free have helped push up house prices in Portugal for the first time since 2008.

Knight Frank, the property company, said prime property prices in the Algarve were finally rising because of “realistic pricing, the availability of cheap finance, strong investment in infrastructure and tax initiatives”.

Algarve’s tourism board (RTA) has awarded 16 tourism medals to the people and entities that it considers have excelled at promoting the sector.

The medals, given out at a ceremony sector in Faro on Monday (January 18) attended by Portugal’s secretary of state for tourism Ana Mendes Godinho, were divided into two categories – the ‘Gold Tourism Medal’ and the ‘Tourism Merit Medal’.